Press
Release

For Immediate ReleaseOctober 17 ,
2005

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

FBI
Releases Crime Statistics for 2004

Washington, D.C.—According
to statistics compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and released
today, from 2003 to 2004, the estimated volume of violent crime in the Nation
declined 1.2 percent, and the estimated volume of property crime declined
1.1 percent. Further, the rate of violent crime estimated at 465.5 violent
offenses per 100,000 in population decreased 2.2 percent, and the rate of
property crime estimated at 3,517.1 property crimes per 100,000 inhabitants
decreased 2.1 percent.

The FBI's Uniform Crime
Reporting (UCR) Program presented the data in the 2004 edition of its annual
publication, Crime in the United States, a statistical compilation
of reports submitted by law enforcement agencies. In 2004, more than 17,000
city, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies representing
94.2 percent of the Nation's population voluntarily participated in the Program.

Director Mueller said, "In
a nation where information sharing has become a priority so that law enforcement
can work together to investigate crimes and prevent terrorist acts, the UCR
Program remains an open book for all who want to better understand crime
in the United States. L ocal and state law enforcement agencies and the UCR
Program staff collaborate daily to gather and provide reliable crime statistics
which are used in a multitude of real-world applications. The Program's
data are essential for those seeking to analyze the nature and extent of
crime in the nation, their region, their state, or their community. "

The UCR Program collects
data for two crime categories—violent crime and property crime. Violent
crimes are the offenses of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible
rape, robbery, and aggravated assault; property crimes are the offenses of
burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. In addition to offense
and arrest data, Crime in the United States, 2004, contains data
on arson, hate crime, and law enforcement personnel. The publication also
includes two special studies, one addresses arrests of juveniles for drug
abuse violations and the other, infants as victims of crime.

Violent
Crime

In 2004, there were an
estimated 1,367,009 violent crimes. The offense of forcible rape was the
only violent crime to show an increase, 0.8 percent, in the estimated number
of offenses from the previous year's data. Decreases in the estimated number
of the various violent offenses included murder, down 2.4 percent; robbery,
down 3.1 percent; and aggravated assaults, down 0.5 percent when compared
with 2003 figures.

Property
Crime

During 2004, there were
an estimated 10,328,255 property crimes. The estimated volume of all offenses
in the property crime category declined from 2003 numbers: burglaries decreased
0.5 percent, larceny-thefts declined 1.1 percent, and motor vehicle thefts
were down 1.9 percent.

Collectively, the victims
of property crime (excluding arson) lost an estimated $16 billion: an estimated
$7.6 billion in motor vehicle thefts, $5.1 billion as a result of larceny-thefts,
and $3.5 billion in burglaries.

The FBI estimated that
law enforcement personnel collectively made slightly more than 14 million
arrests in 2004. The arrest rate for the Nation was 4,777.2 arrests per 100,000
inhabitants; for violent crime, arrests numbered 202.0 per 100,000 in population;
and for property crime, 568.2 per 100,000 in population. A breakdown of the
data for the two crime categories showed that for violent crimes, the arrest
rate for murder was 4.8; forcible rape, 8.9; robbery, 37.7; and aggravated
assault, 150.6 per 100,000 inhabitants. For property crimes, the arrest rate
for burglary was 100.6; larceny-theft, 412.0; and motor vehicle theft, 50.3
for each 100,000 resident population. Arrests for arson were made at a rate
of 5.3 per 100,000 inhabitants.

Hate
Crime

In 2004, of the 12,711
agencies that voluntarily submitted data for the hate crime segment of the
UCR Program, 2,046 agencies provided reports on 7,649 hate crime incidents.
These data showed that 7,145 known offenders committed 9,035 offenses against
9,528 victims.

Law
Enforcement Employees

More than 14,000 city,
county, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies provided to the UCR Program
the number of civilians and sworn officers employed at those agencies as
of October 31, 2004. These agencies reported that, collectively, they employed
675,734 sworn officers and 294,854 civilians and provided law enforcement
services to more than 278 million inhabitants nationwide, a rate of 3.5 employees
for each 1,000 inhabitants. The rate for 2004 was unchanged from the 2003
rate. In 2004, 57 law enforcement officers were feloniously slain in the
line of duty, and 82 officers died in accidents in the performance of their
duties.

Arrests
of Juveniles for Drug Abuse Violations from 1994 to 2003

This report shows that
the volume of juvenile arrests for drug abuse violations involving all drug
types, collectively, increased 22.9 percent from 1994 to 2003. When an individual
is arrested for a drug abuse violation, the reporting agency indicates the
type of drug in one of four categories: opium or cocaine and their derivatives,
marijuana, synthetic narcotics, and dangerous nonnarcotic drugs. The number
of arrests of juveniles for three of the four drug types increased, except
for opium or cocaine, which decreased 50.9 percent. In 1994, 60.6 percent
of juveniles arrested for drug abuse violations were white; however, by 2003,
that number had risen to 74.9 percent.

Male juveniles were more
frequently arrested for drug abuse violations than female juveniles at an
average rate of 6 to 1; however, the report indicates that female juveniles
were arrested at a younger age for drug abuse violations than male juveniles.

Infant
Victims: An Exploratory Study

The findings of this
special study indicate that when an infant is victimized, the baby is usually
assaulted in a private location by a relative or someone in a relationship
of trust with the household members. In addition, infants are rarely the
solitary victim in an incident. During the incident, the perpetrator usually
uses personal weapons (i.e., hands, fists, or feet), and infants are

much more likely to sustain
serious or multiple injuries than other-aged victims present in the same
incident.